10A SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2006
VOLLEYBALL
Knee injury forces team reorganization
Bechard will look to freshmen to step up, fill spot of player out all season
BY DREW DAVISON
Volleyball coach Ray Bechard announced yesterday that Natalie Uhart, middle blocker, will be out the rest of the season.
An awkward landing caused the injury, Bechard said, and Uhart will have surgery in a couple weeks.
Uhart, the preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, injured her knee during the KU Alumni Scrimmage on Saturday. The severity of her injury was unknown until yesterday.
"I am confident everybody here at the University of Kansas will support her and her total recovery," Bechard said.
Uhart's experience and athleticism
were expected to help fill the void left by Josi Lima. Lima, a four-time All-Big 12 selection, graduated and now plays professionally in Spain.
"Natalie came in at the same level of Jost," Jana Correa, senior outside hitter said. "Now we have freshmen, so we lose a little bit, but I think they'll be okay. They just need to grow up quickly."
Brittany Williams, freshman middle blocker, is projected to become the starter.
"Williams seems to have that opportunity," Bechard said. "We were training Caitlin Mahoney more on the right side, but now we'll give Caitlin that opportunity too. Those two have the most experience that will make that transition the
Emily Brown, junior right side hitter and setter, is confident the team will be able to bounce back after losing Uhart.
smoothest."
"Definitely a big loss, not only skill wise but Natalie is a great teammate," she said. "She's a great person, just awesome to have in the gym. It's definitely a loss, but I think we'll be all right."
Staying healthy will be one of the biggest goals for the jayhawks.
Last year, Kansas had nine healthy players for the NCAA tournament. Therefore, the team has added depth. Sixteen players are on the roster this season and 15 are active.
One of the key losses from last season was Correa, who tore her
ACL during the Kansas State game.
Correa said she was healthy and ready to start the season after Saturday's scrimmage.
The Jayhawks season gets underway at the Crismon Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Friday afternoon they play Alabama A&M and Saturday they have a double header against Miami and Alabama.
"I think I did well. It was my first game after eight months," she said. "I was confident and I am excited for the rest of the year."
Kansan sportswriter Drew Davison can be contacted at ddavison@kansan.com.
Edited by Jacky Carter
Photo by Megan True/ KANSAN
Voleyball coach Ray Bechard talks about his upcoming season Tuesday afternoon. "We are excited for this season and hope to make it back to the NCAA tournament," Bechard said.
》CLUB SPORTS
Women's soccer club recruiting to win this season
BY KAYVON SARRAF
The University of Kansas women's soccer club is working to recruit players for this season that want highly competitive games without the varsity practice schedule.
Club members have the opportunity to travel around the country and play games against other athletes.
"We're competitive, but we still have the camaraderie that comes with any team or club," said Sarah Murphy, club vice president and Topeka sophomore. "We're able to combine a great bonding experience with playing the game that we love."
Last year, the club traveled to the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association Soccer Sport Club Championship in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where it lost to eventual champion Virginia in an overtime quarterfinal match. This year, plans are in place to travel to nationals in Tempe, Ariz., in addition to playing tournaments in Chicago and Manhattan, Kan.
Caitlin McKeown, club president and Barrington, III. senior, said the team planned on keeping between
20 and 25 players, depending on the talent pool's depth at tryouts. Every year the team is forced to make a few cuts.
She said she was not worried about the possibility of potential players walking on to the varsity team. Club sports require a different attitude than varsity sports.
"Varsity soccer requires much more dedication and commitment," she said. "We're competitive but are a lot more laid back than the varsity team."
At the same time, Murphy said the team finds a happy medium between intramurals and varsity level play. Intramurals are for players who do not have much experience playing, while only playing one time per week.
McKeown said the team's schedule is similar to that of a high school club team, with practices three days a week and games every weekend in the fall. Every girl on the team has experience playing at the high school level, with some having a stint playing varsity level soccer at small colleges.
Murphy said that while she and the other team captains will likely make a few cuts at tryouts, soccer
skills are not the only thing she will be looking for. She will also be looking at how girls get along with the rest of the team. She hopes to get to know all interested participants.
"Conditioning is another important factor, but we really want to find girls that are going to fit in well with the rest of the team," Murphy said.
McKeown said the whole season is a build-up to nationals, where the team has had success the past few seasons, including a second place finish three seasons ago.
"All the tournaments we play are to help us prepare for nationals, which is the culmination of our season." McKeown said.
As a club sport, the team is forced to provide its own funds. Past fundraising events have included T-shirt sales.
Any girls with questions about the club should attend an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Student Recreation and Fitness Center. Tryouts begin at 4 p.m. Monday at the Shenk Complex, 23rd and Iowa streets, and will continue on Tuesday and Thursday next week at the same time.
Aggies' new quarterback brings energy
-Edited by Mindy Ricketts
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
BY SHAWN SHROYER
Dating back to his first spring at Texas A&M, sophomore quarterback Stephen McGee made it known that, someday, the Aggies would be his team to lead.
Late in a 2005 spring practice, coach Dennis Franchione approached McGee about becoming a leader for the defense, in addition to the offense. McGee then took the field against the defense, in the midst of a drill where quarterbacks weren't supposed to get hit, and decided to ruffle some feathers — linebacker Justin Warren's feathers.
"So Stephen breaks a run, comes down the line, and Justin comes over to tag off like he's supposed to do with the quarterback and Stephen lowers his shoulder and knocks Justin down," Franchione said. "I think the team responded well to it and got everybody a little bit fired up. And that was his way of sending his message to compete hard."
McGee's fiery attitude will be a welcome, and much needed, addition to a Texas A&M squad that lost its last four games of the 2005 season when it needed only one more win to become bowl eligible.
Kansan sportswriter Kayvon Sarraf can be contacted at ksarraf@ kansan.com.
But don't confuse his in-your-face
demeanor on the field for arrogance or showmanship. He's the ultimate team player.
"When the guys see me play, I want them to see a guy that first cares about his teammates more than himself," he said. "If there's a yard to get or an inch to get, I'm going to dive and take a hit for them because they're important."
McGee is used to the pain from taking hits, but 2006 may also inflict some growing pains on the young quarterback. Texas A&M will depend on McGee growing this season along with an offense that returns only six starters from 2005.
The rushing attack should suffer no setbacks from last year with most of the key elements returning, including senior running back Courtney Lewis and sophomore Jorvorskie Lane.
Creating lanes for the backs will be a line that returns four starters: juniors Corey Clark, tackle, Kirk Elder, guard, and Cody Wallace, center, along with sophomore tackle Yemi Babalola. Senior guard Grant Dickey is listed as the fifth offensive lineman.
McGee will have an experienced group of receivers, although two of them are coming off severe injuries. Senior Chad Schroeder and junior Earvin Taylor are listed as starters
for the Aggies, but both suffered broken legs that ended their 2005 seasons. Schroeder was still the team's second leading receiver with 335 yards and five touchdowns.
Similar to the offense, the defense returns six players with starting experience, but only one started all 11 games last season. The defense will have at least one veteran at each level of its unit, which will feature four lineemen, two linebackers and five backs. That experience leads junior defensive tackle Red Bryant to believe the Aggie defense has something to prove in 2006.
If Texas A&M's postseason chances are on the line again down the stretch, it will rely on its new quarterback's intensity to clinch a postseason berth.
"It's hard to replace Reggie McNeal, but McGee — just by his leadership and the way he is — we've seen him get hit and he jumps back up," Bryant said. "He sparks the team and I feel like he makes everyone around him better, so I feel like we're headed in the right direction."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@kansan.com.
Edited by Brett Bolton
Track star accepts ban
KU RELAYS
Sprinter Justin Gallin agreed to an eight-year ban from track and
BY EDDIE PELLS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
field Tuesday, avoiding a lifetime penalty in exchange for his cooperation with doping authorities and because his first positive drug test was deemed an honest mistake.
Gatlin tested positive following the Kansas Relays in April for testosterone or other steroids, five years after his first positive test, which was for medicine to control attention-deficit disorder. Under the World Anti-Doping Agency code, a second doping offense calls for a lifetime ban.
He will forfeit the world record he tied in May, when he ran the 100 meters in 9.77 seconds. At age 24, the lengthy ban would all but knock Gatlin out of competition for the rest of his life.
But Gatlin reached a compromise with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which levies doping penalties in America. Under terms of the compromise, he can still appeal to an arbitration panel in the next six months to have the term reduced.
The first offense occurred while Gatlin was in college. He stopped taking the ADD medicine a few days before competition, but it did not clear his system. He received a two-year ban for that test, which was reduced by a year because of the "exceptional circumstances" of the offense.
"The nature of Gatlin's first offense for use of his medication puts this violation in a unique category," said USADA chief executive officer Terry Madden.
Gatlin has said he didn't know how steroids got into his system this time.